Momentum

1. A 0.70 kg ball moving horizontally at 5.0 m/s strikes a vertical wall and rebounds
with speed 2.0 m/s.What is the magnitude of the change in its linear momentum?
2. A 2100 kg truck traveling north at 41 km/h turns east and accelerates to 51 km/h.
(a) What is the change in the trucks kinetic energy? What are the
(b) magnitude
(c) direction of the change in its momentum?
3. A 0.30 kg softball has a velocity of 15 m/s at an angle of 35 0 below the horizontal
just before making contact with the bat.What is the magnitude of the change in
momentum of the ball while in contact with the bat if the ball leaves with a
velocity of
(a) 20 m/s, vertically downward,and
(b) 20 m/s, horizontally back toward the pitcher?
4. Figure gives an overhead view of the path taken by a 0.165 kg cue ball as it
bounces from a rail of a pool table. The balls initial speed is 2.00 m/s, and the
angle 1 is 30.00.The bounce reverses the y component of the balls velocity but
does not alter the x component.What are
(a) angle 2 and
(b) the change in the balls linear momentum in unit-vector notation?
(The fact that the ball rolls is irrelevant to the problem.)

5. A 1.2 kg ball drops vertically onto a floor, hitting with a speed of 25 m/s. It
rebounds with an initial speed of 10 m/s.
(a) What impulse acts on the ball during the contact?
(b) If the ball is in contact with the floor for 0.020 s, what is the magnitude of the
average force on the floor from the ball?
6. In the overhead view of Figure , a 300 g ball with a speed v of 6.0 m/s strikes a
wall at an angle of 300 and then rebounds with the same speed and angle. It is
in contact with the wall for 10 ms. In unitvector notation, what are
(a) the impulse on the ball from the wall and
(b) the average force on the wall from the ball?

7. A 91 kg man lying on a surface of negligible friction shoves a 68 g stone away

from himself, giving it a speed of 4.0 m/s. What speed does the man acquire as a
result?
8. A space vehicle is traveling at 4300 km/h relative to Earth when the exhausted
rocket motor (mass 4m) is disengaged and sent backward with a speed of 82

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Momentum
km/h relative to the command module (mass m).What is the speed of the
command module relative to Earth just after the separation?
9. Figure shows a two-ended rocket that is initially stationary on a frictionless
floor, with its center at the origin of an x axis.The rocket consists of a central block
C (of mass M = 6.00 kg) and blocks L and R (each of mass m = 2.00 kg) on the
left and right sides. Small explosions can shoot either of the side blocks away
from block C and along the x axis. Here is the sequence: (1) At time t = 0, block L
is shot to the left with a speed of 3.00 m/s relative to the velocity that the
explosion gives the rest of the rocket. (2) Next, at time t = 0.80 s, block R is shot
to the right with a speed of 3.00 m/s relative to the velocity that block C then has.
At t =2.80 s, what are
(a) the velocity of block C and
(b) the position of its center?
10. An object, with mass m and speed v relative to an observer, explodes into two
pieces, one three times as massive as the other; the explosion takes place in deep
space. The less massive piece stops relative to the observer. How much kinetic
energy is added to the system during the explosion, as measured in the
observers
reference frame?
11. A 20.0 kg body is moving through space in the positive direction of an x axis with
a speed of 200 m/s when, due to an internal explosion, it breaks into three parts.
One part, with a mass of 10.0 kg, moves away from the point of explosion with a
speed of 100 m/s in the positive y direction. A second part, with a mass of 4.00
kg, moves in the negative x direction with a speed of 500 m/s.
(a) In unit-vector notation, what is the velocity of the third part?
(b) How much energy is released in the explosion? Ignore effects due to the
gravitational force
12. A 4.0 kg mess kit sliding on a frictionless surface explodes into two 2.0 kg parts:
3.0 m/s, due north, and 5.0 m/s, 300 north of east.What is the original speed of the
mess kit?
13. Particle A and particle B are held together with a compressed spring between
them.When they are released, the spring pushes them apart, and they then fly off
in opposite directions, free of the spring.The mass of A is 2.00 times the mass of
B, and the energy stored in the spring was 60 J. Assume that the spring has
negligible mass and that all its stored energy is transferred to the particles. Once
that transfer is complete, what are the kinetic energies of
(a)particle A and
(b) particle B?
14. A bullet of mass 10 g strikes a ballistic pendulum of mass 2.0 kg.The center of
mass of the pendulum rises a vertical distance of 12 cm. Assuming that the bullet
remains embedded in the pendulum, calculate the bullets initial speed.
15. A 5.20 g bullet moving at 672 m/s strikes a 700 g wooden block at rest on a
frictionless surface.The bullet emerges, traveling in the same direction with its
speed reduced to 428 m/s.
(a) What is the resulting speed of the block?
(b) What is the speed of the bulletblock center of mass?
16. In Figure a 3.50 g bullet is fired horizontally at two blocks at rest on a frictionless
table.The bullet passes through block 1 (mass 1.20 kg) and embeds itself in block
2 (mass 1.80 kg). The blocks end up with speeds v1 = 0.630 m/s and v2 = 1.40
m/s . Neglecting the material removed from block 1 by the bullet,find the speed of
the bullet as it
(a) leaves and

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Momentum
(b) enters block 1.

17. A completely inelastic collision occurs between two balls of wet putty that move
directly toward each other along a vertical axis. Just before the collision, one ball,
of mass 3.0 kg, is moving upward at 20 m/s and the other ball, of mass 2.0 kg, is
moving downward at 12 m/s. How high do the combined two balls of putty rise
above the collision point? (Neglect air drag.)
18. A 5.0 kg block with a speed of 3.0 m/s collides with a 10 kg block that has a speed
of 2.0 m/s in the same direction. After the collision, the 10 kg block travels in the
original direction with a speed of 2.5 m/s.
(a) What is the velocity of the 5.0 kg block immediately after the collision?
(b) By how much does the total kinetic energy of the system of two blocks
change because of the collision?
(c) Suppose, instead, that the 10 kg block ends up with a speed of 4.0 m/s.What
then is the change in the total kinetic energy?
(d) Account for the result you obtained in (c).
19. A 6090 kg space probe moving nose-first toward Jupiter at 105 m/s relative to the
Sun fires its rocket engine, ejecting 80.0 kg of exhaust at a speed of 253m/s
relative to the space probe.What is the final velocity of the probe?
20. In Figure , two long barges are moving in the same direction in still water, one
with a speed of 10 km/h and the other with a speed of 20 km/h.While they are
passing each other, coal is shoveled from the slower to the faster one at a rate of
1000 kg/min. How much additional force must be provided by the driving engines
of
(a) the faster barge and
(b) the slower barge if neither is to change speed?
Assume that the shoveling is always perfectly sideways and that the frictional forces
between the barges and the water do not depend on the mass of the barges.

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Momentum
21. A rocket that is in deep space and initially at rest relative to an inertial reference
frame has a mass of 2.55x 105 kg, of which 1.81x 105 kg is fuel. The rocket engine
is then fired for 250 s while fuel is consumed at the rate of 480 kg/s. The speed of
the exhaust products relative to the rocket is 3.27 km/s.
(a) What is the rockets thrust? After the 250 s firing, what are
(b) the mass and
(c) the speed of the rocket?
22. A 6100 kg rocket is set for vertical firing from the ground. If the exhaust speed is
1200 m/s, how much gas must be ejected each second if the thrust
(a) is to equal the magnitude of the gravitational force on the rocket and
(b) is to give the rocket an initial upward acceleration of 21 m/s 2?
23. A pellet gun fires ten 2.0 g pellets per second with a speed of 500 m/s.The pellets
are stopped by a rigid wall. What are
(a) the magnitude of the momentum of each pellet,
(b) the kinetic energy of each pellet, and
(c) the magnitude of the average force on the wall from the stream of pellets? (d)
If each pellet is in contact with the wall for 0.60 ms, what is the magnitude of the
average force on the wall from each pellet during contact?
(e) Why is this average force so different from the average force calculated in (c)?
24. A railroad car moves under a grain elevator at a constant speed of 3.20 m/s. Grain
drops into the car at the rate of 540 kg/min. What is the magnitude of the force
needed to keep the car moving at constant speed if friction is negligible?
Past paper questions

The area under a force-time graph represents

A acceleration.
B change in momentum.
C displacement.
D kinetic energy

A particle X has kinetic energy E and momentum p. Another particle Y of the same
mass as X has a momentum 2p. The kinetic energy of Y is
A 1/2E
BE
C 2E
D 4E

The momentum of a particle is p. The kinetic energy of the particle is doubled.The

momentum is now
A 2 p
B 2p
C 4p
D 8p

The diagram represents the collision between two sub-atomic particles P and Q
moving with momenta 1 and 2 respectively. After the collision they have momenta 3
and 4 respectively

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Momentum

Which vector diagram best shows the correct relationship for the momenta of P and Q?

A body, initially at rest, explodes into two masses M1 and M2. These masses move
apart with speeds v1 and v2 respectively.The ratio v1/v2 is equal to
A M1/M2
B M2/M1
C M1/M2
D M2/M1

Two identical spheres of mass m are both travelling with a speed v towards each other.

The spheres collide head-on.

Which of the following statements must be true after the collision?
A total momentum = 2mv
B total momentum = 0
C total kinetic energy = mv2
D total kinetic energy = 0

A cyclist travels along a straight horizontal road at a steady speed. A net force of 20 N
is then applied for 6 s. The change in momentum of the cyclist is
A 3.3 kg m s1
B 26 kg m s1
C 120 kg m s1
D 720 kg m s1
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Momentum
A student is using a Newtons Cradle. This consists of a set of identical solid metal balls
hanging by threads from a frame so that they are in contact with each other.She initially pulls
one ball to the side as shown.

She releases the ball, it collides with the nearest stationary ball and stops. The ball furthest to
the right immediately moves away. The middle three balls remain stationary.
*(a) Explain what measurements the student would take and describe how she would use
them to investigate whether momentum had been conserved in this event (4 marks)
(b) the student makes the following observations :
the ball on the right returns and collides with a similar result; this repeats itself a
number of times
after a while, the middle balls are also moving
shortly afterwards, the balls all come to rest.
Discuss these observations in terms of energy.(3 marks)
James Chadwick is credited with discovering the neutron in 1932.
Beryllium was bombarded with alpha particles, knocking neutrons out of the berylliumatoms.
Chadwick placed various targets between the beryllium and a detector.Hydrogen and nitrogen
atoms were knocked out of the targets by the neutrons and the kinetic energies of these atoms
were measured by the detector.
(a) The maximum energy of a nitrogen atom was found to be 1.2 MeV.
Show that the maximum velocity of the atom is about 4 106 m s1.
mass of nitrogen atom = 14u, where u = 1.66 1027 kg
(b) The mass of a neutron is Nu (where N is the relative mass of the neutron) and its initial
velocity is x. The nitrogen atom, mass 14u, is initially stationary and is then knocked out of
the target with a velocity, y, by a collision with a neutron.

(i)

Show that the velocity, z, of the neutron after the collision can be written as
Nx14 y
z=
N

(ii)

The collision between this neutron and the nitrogen atom is elastic. What is meant
by an elastic collision?
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Momentum
(iii)

Explain why the kinetic energy Ek of the nitrogen atom is given by

Ek

Nu ( x 2z 2 )
=
2

(c) The two equations in (b) can be combined and z can be eliminated to give
2 Nx

y N +14
(i) The maximum velocity of hydrogen atoms knocked out by neutrons in the same
experiment was 30 107 m s1. The mass of a hydrogen atom is 1u. Show that the relative
mass N of the neutron is 1.
(ii) This equation can not be applied to all collisions in this experiment.
Suggest why.

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